Friday Feathers: The Birds are Back in Town

I put up the feeder some while ago, and especially with the light snow, the birds are really happy about it. Only the pics are bad because we don’t have any light. The skies have been overcast for more than a month now, which is really getting on my mood because it never gets light. 9 am, 2 pm, 4 pm, it’s all the same and then it is dark.

©Giliell, all rights reserved
Footprints of unknown bird, but I think it was a juvenile

The Art of …

… birds, by Audubon

Blue Jays are big, noisy and the bullies of my neighbourhood. They are also glorious to behold.

Blue Jay, plate 102 of Birds of America, 1827-1838, by John James Audubon. Image from Wikiart

Robin? Robin!

Happy new year, everyone.

I had a new and surprising visitor in my garden two days ago, a robin. I have seen robins in my garden before, but never ever in winter. And I was lucky enough to take a picture this time, so you can see it too.

Kestrel Whoosh

Yesterday evening I heard a banshee wailing behind my window. Well, not being superstitious and knowing my birds I feared not for I knew it was no banshee but a kestrel. The little bugger has probably slept somewhere in my roof beams and decided to give me a loud “good night” just before sundown. In the morning, shortly after I woke up, I heard it again, so I put on a jacket and went out to take a look. And I saw the bird whooshing over the roof, confirming my surmise. I do not know exactly where it was overnight, but it was indeed somewhere near my window.

Later on, just as I was preparing to go pick up my mother at a hospital after successful surgery, I spotted the bird on a tree in my neighbor’s garden and I have managed to make a few pictures before it whooshed again. I even managed to open the window, although it did not help too much, the weather was foggy and the lighting was craparooni.

More pictures below the fold.

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A Cheerful Cardinal

This bright red feathered dinosaur comes to us from the camera of Some Old Programmer, who notes,

Through a kitchen window that, admittedly, needs cleaning. Eastern Massachusetts, US.

All kitchen windows need cleaning by December, but very few have a view this nice. Thanks for sharing.

Bullfinches!

We have no snow yet, but the temps are below 0 °C sometimes, so we are filling the feeder with sunflower seeds. And at least bullfinches are here again, I had four pairs show up simultaneously this week, although I did not, unfortunately, get them all in one picture. I got seven individuals at once, but unfortunately, the focus was not on the tree with birds but on the tree behind them.

Back at the Zoo 6: The Birds of Prey

Always one of my favourite parts. Sadly but understandably they don’t fly them for the visitors right now, but still some amazing creatures.

Back at the Zoo 1

On Friday both Mr and I had a day off. We cherish those days when we’re both at home and the kids are not, having some couple’s time. We usually try to get a few of them, a day or an evening, throughout the year, but you can imagine how that’s been going this year…

Now,usually we’d go to the spa or something, have a nice meal, too, but that’s crying over spilled milk right now, so we decided to go to the zoo, which is still open, and given that it was a foggy Friday morning, we pretty much had the whole thing to ourselves. The weather made taking pics difficult, since it was either grainy 6400 ISO pics or longish exposure, but some of them are still nice.

Let’s start with these amazing birds whose names I’ve forgotten. I remember they’re from India, though…

A Predator Poses for Pics

Avalus has been out capturing the natural world for us, and this set of photos is spectacular.

And this morning I had this big bird of prey pose and flex its wings for me. Quality is not the best, as I was shivering on my bike (cold! Forgot my gloves! Again!) and the autofocus had its problems focusing the bird from about 30 m away. It was a majestic sight. The pictures don’t do it justice.

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Serenity

No words needed.

Mein lieber Schwan (my dear swan)

The above is a German expression to indicate surprise, often with some disapproval: “Mein lieber Schwan, did you see how fast that car was going?”. But there’s absolutely no disapproval for our new swan family. They are pretty relaxed for swans, so far.

The two youngsters. One of them keeps holding tight to their baby plumage while the other one has been wearing their adult white for a while now.

Hallowe’en Photo Festival of Fun and Fundraising

Today’s picture is from the talented photographer, Nightjar, and it may look sweet, but she notes,

The bird is a Pied Flycatcher during its autumn migration, and it may seem adorable and not at all spooky, but from the point of view of a fly it is no less murderous than a spider!

A Kestrel on Fire

I am glad for the photo-op late in the evening, but I hope this was just a brief pause between murderings of voles who are a scourge of my garden. I haven’t seen kestrels or signs of them near my garden last year at all, but this year I have seen at least two individuals, and that is a good sign. The voles infestation used to be less severe when they were around regularly – when I often found their feathers and pellets of undigested food.

I never thought I will miss the times when I had fresh bird vomit in my garden all the time, but those really were the good times.

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Friday Feathers: The Birds are Back in Town

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The Art of …

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Robin? Robin!

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Kestrel Whoosh

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A Cheerful Cardinal

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Bullfinches!

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Back at the Zoo 6: The Birds of Prey

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Back at the Zoo 1

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A Predator Poses for Pics

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Serenity

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Mein lieber Schwan (my dear swan)

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Hallowe’en Photo Festival of Fun and Fundraising

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A Kestrel on Fire

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